Review urges wide-ranging overhaul of how NSA conducts surveillance

Updated
Thu 19 Dec 2013, 11:22 AM AEDT

A review board set up following revelations of vast US surveillance programs has called for a wide-ranging overhaul of National Security Agency (NSA) practices while preserving "robust" intelligence capabilities.

The panel was set up by president Barack Obama after disclosures made by the fugitive American intelligence analyst Edward Snowden.

It has issued 46 recommendations, including reforms at a secret national security court and an end to retention of telephone metadata.

The 308-page report, submitted last week to the White House and now released publicly, says the US government needs to balance the interests of national security and intelligence gathering with privacy and "protecting democracy, civil liberties, and the rule of law".

"We are not saying the struggle against terrorism is over", Richard Clarke, a former White House counter-terrorism aide who is a member of the review board, said.

But Mr Clarke, who joined other review board members at a briefing, added there were "mechanisms that can be more transparent, can have more independent oversight" and cited the need to "give the public a sense of trust that goes beyond what it is today".

The report also called for "significant steps" to be taken "to protect the privacy of non-US persons" and urged more cooperation with allies to avoid the diplomatic fallout from revelations of US intelligence gathering.

Panel members said the recommendations would not necessarily mean a rolling back of intelligence gathering, including on foreign leaders, but that surveillance must be guided by standards and by high-level policymakers.